What happened to my heart?
by deadlyfatguy
Summary: A game obsessed girl gets pulled into the world of kingdom hearts 2 , sound like a dream come true. Right? Nope...Her world kinda got lost to darkness. also... why the hell is she some kind of weird human looking heartless?
1. Chapter 1

Authors note

This is my first ever having read loads I decided it would be fun to try and write after the one I just Read , Eclipse of the heart , that was crazy in a way I guess you could say that inspired this.  
, also I'm ok in English but it's not my first language , so i'd appreciate it if you would point out any grammar errors...or not Doesn't really matter that much I guess. Either way let me know what you think.

"people talking"  
'people thinking'

Chapter 1:A not so average day in the life off...  
-

Boring...that's how today feels. Ruby's been hanging under a tree for the better part it.  
Her precious phone has moved on, it's battery had died 2 hours ago , she'd charge it...but unfortunately the powers been off the whole day.  
Even before she woke up.  
The day has literally just been her lazing about bored and frustrated.

That's why she's hanging under this tree , after what's probably the seventh complaint about being bored her folks kindly suggested(HINTED STRONGLY)  
that she go outside for a change. WItch sounds like a swell time...not What she should be doing is playing some kingdom hearts , she havs Yet to defeat her eternal rival..the one who keeps her up at night , who broke more of her controllers than any other villain...ever. The one , the only Sephiroth. "Mark my words I shall defeat him!",she muttered to herself .But now...her gaming life has come to an abrupt end. How tragic.

She had wandered around outside for a while before deciding to just walk straigth and see where the road leads her.  
Eventually coming across her big tree , and after a while of walking . it was the only sanctuary in site.

she's in uncharted territory a place touched by no neet , it's hot , dry and agonising.  
Dry leaves laying everywhere with not even an autumn breeze to move them.  
Her throat and lips completely dry , and it felt as if every breath she took seemed to dry it more.  
Her rations consist of a single bag of cookies and a half eaten apple that she managed to snag before leaving the house.  
She's seriously regretting not bringing something to drink.

'I would seriously kill for some water right now,  
my rations will only last me a bit longer.  
Im slowly drying out as I sit here.  
I don't know for how long this will go on.  
I fear I may not make it out of this alive ...tell my parents...I...blame them.'

Bam! a ball hits her square in the face bringing an end to her inner death scene."...oww." , "Sorry miss!." The kid who came running to retrieve the ball yelled.  
The brat didn't even look at her when he arrived , taking his ball and scurrying off. While she wasn't paying attention a group of kids have come out to play.  
The site of such a taxing activity on a day like this enough to make her feel tired for them.

"Tch, this is now a danger zone , a gang of small minions have invaded and are trying to steal the only protection from the sun. their weapon... evil ball attacks.",Her eyes narrow in annoyance as she mutters to herself and getting up.  
She could try to shoo them away but this isn't even her neighborhood so she doubted it would work.

she makes the choice to retreat. being outnumbered and all that.  
'I shall kick their asses another day , when Im less dead inside.' , was how she justified her hasty retreat.  
Deciding that she was outside long enough, she can probably head home about now.

The way back home is painfully long and sweaty., it's about half an hour long walk , witch was way easier to do earlier for some reason.  
The pack of cookies is her only apple long gone.  
she's down to the last cookie when she reaches her house. she noticed the lights which are on,she blinked slowly.'  
...Wait ...lights mean power Duh.'

"YES! The powers back!". her loud cheer woke the neighbors very big, very scary and very angry dog.  
tts chain cracking as it tries to storm her , barking all the way. " struggle all ye want , but ye shant earn your freedom any are but a pawn, my only true rival shall flatten you with but a glare!"  
The chain made a cracking sound...  
Which means it's time for yet another tactical want that thing getting loose.  
The wind whips thru her black hair as she bolted inside the house.

"Ruby! don't tease the neighbors dog! That thing will eat you whole if it gets loose." , her dad yells mirroring her thoughts somewhat as she slams the door behind her.  
The problem with this situation is as follows...her dad hates that dog but the neighbor refuses to take it away ,and that dog hates her. so she's always in trouble whenever she leaves the house.  
hench her revenge...reminding it of it's fruitless struggle via unnecessary teasing.

The reason her dad hates that dog so much is because it did get loose once. He was coming home from work one day in the family van , the dog already loose charged the car and slammed into it again and again.  
He had to wait hours for animal control to arrive.  
And to top it all off the neighbor some how sweet talked him and his dog out of it all.

As she walked down the hall her mother stopped her. " so have fun outside dear , make any new friends?"  
"nope , the heat out there is crazy , I was hiding under a big tree the whole time , and the this stupid kid kicked a ball into my face", Ruby muttered back Her mom gave a smile,"Want something to eat or drink, maybe that will cheer you up?"  
That question reminding her once more of her agonising thirst.  
"thats ok mom, I'll just grab a soda from the fridge", and then she did just that.

Anyway seeing as the power is on now , she Should probably go to battle now.  
"To the ruby cave!", she yelled as she bolted pass her mom to her room.

"If you clean It every once in a while it wouldn't have to be a cave!."My mom yells from behind her , before sighing and shaking her head Ruby rolled my eyes , the thought of doing that hasn't crossed her mind in month's.

Cleaning is the enemy of gaming, stealing precious hours of game time.  
She won't surrender to the whims of parents!

Game now!

-  
Her blue eyes are wide and bloodshot, her entire body feels like trembling jello. her breathing ragged and shallow.  
But her face has a sinister , wide grin. "mwahaha.," she starts to laugh silently before going all out,"hahahahahahahahahahaha!...i did it...i actually won!."  
Her smile so wide it could easily rip her took an all nighter , an entire night of fighting the fallen angel eerie chorus that is his theme is imprinted in her mind is at the moment so tired that she feels energized.  
That usually happens only when she does an all nighter.

This was her final obstacle too 100% completion , Xemnas is but a fly she'l have to swat .She only had the original release , none of the fancy newer ones.  
But she heard there was a new , even stronger boss , Terra's armor or something...She saw this while googling for ways to beat the fallen one,  
but to her it looked more like they weakened sephiroth witch is shall eternally be her strongest adversary.  
no suit of armor shall replace him. When she thinks powerful boss fight , she immediately thinks of Sephiroth.

suddenly The light flickers and dies , as well as her fossil of a Ps2 and tv The power died...she didn't save

"nooooooooooooo!." another remote smashed against the wall.  
Her body was shuddering , the anger flowing thru her like lava. It felt like fate itself was mocking her.  
That timing ...was too perfectly evil.  
It was Sephiroth's final last ditch attack ,"Damn you sephiroth! this is not the end!."  
"Ruby be quiet! were trying to sleep!

After that Ruby just fell into the bed , out like a light

The earth started shaking , she practically jumped out of the bed arms flailing , nearly tripping over her blanket witch came with her.  
...something crazy is happening. She Felt an eerie feeling of angst , like someone just brutally murdered a puppy . Her parents yell from somewhere in the house , prompting her to bolt out the room as fast as she could towards them...but..."where are they?" ,she's standing where she heard the scream from but ...  
there's no one , she thought she saw something black bolt up the wall but there was nothing when she looked.

Another rumble shakes the house ,the roof above her cracking and caving in. She jump's as hard as she can and barely make It out , coughing from the dirt that invaded her Impact having momentarily stunned her.  
That was close! " MOM! DAD! , Where are you!" try to get up and nearly collapse in pain , tears appearing on her lash line , "my ankle hurts...badly."

'Outside! they must have run for safety.'

The stairs are no match for her hobble really fast technique , her feet ...or one foot carrying her out the front door.  
The other just kinda can't decide if it wants to support her body or just be dragged along.  
But what greets her on the other side makes the breath leave her body.

...What The Hell...

There's a giant black portal thing in the sky sucking everything in! Her house just barely holding on as parts fly past her.  
a mailbox nearly hit her in the she started to get dragged faster... .FASTER!  
She was about to scream when she saw something weird...a heartless scurrying past grabs on to a tree and hold on for dear life.

"hahaha I get it ...I just passed out...wait does this mean I didn't beat sephiroth?.",..."Dammit!".'o wait ...Im completely surrounded by heartless now,  
These things are faster than they look.  
their staring at me blankly , It's really creepy.'  
The portal not affecting them, unfair dream logic .

'This is probably the part where I summon a keyblade and slay them all mwahaha.', she reaches out with her one hand to summon the blade ,too call forth her hidden power... but nothing.  
"c'mon work dammit!" . she yells shaking her hand up and down . 'oops, the heartless are all coming right at me now...',"I'd really like to wake up now!".  
she's swarmed , Her good leg trying to kick them off , but it's not working!  
The darkness going over her ,Covering her eyes , slithering into her mouth.  
It tastes like liquorish and death , noth things she hates.

They were everywhere , 'I can't move , I cant breath , It feels like I'm drowning , their claws are scratching at me...it hurts so much.'

'I don't think this is a dream... it feels too real...It hurts so much ...'

'But ...these are just weak shadows...sephiroth is my Rival..I can't die here!  
I have too many things I wanna do , and believe it or not friends I wanna see.  
What about my parents...I still need to find them and there are so many games I still have to play , I was even gonna make my own one day..this..this is...no ...nonononononononono',

"I'll be damned if I let measly shadow heartless kill me!I'll Fight to the Bitter END!"

Suddenly she can breath ,Light everywhere , bursting from every part of her body. The heartless around her vaporized as the light touched them.  
It spread for quite a length before fading She's ALIVE! YES YES YES "Booya! I got a key...stick? a glowing stick...forget the key part."  
'Yikes grabb the tree again!'

Oh look more heartless."This is not good , my leg is still busted and more and more keep popping up , plus I can't let go of this damned tree!"  
"shouldn't I have like anti-be-eaten-by-evil-portal powers now or something?"  
This is unfair...what is happening..

she tried hard ...really she did , but she was never athletic , She can only swat them with the one hand holding the stick and her leg's busted.  
She got quite a few of them but even so , She's currently surrounded by more shadows than there were in the heartless war in the great maw Her stamina all but finished.

'I never stood a chance , which sucks cause I just got powers and all that.'

Her body may be aching and full of blood , but she went on for as long as she could...witch was about five minutes but felt like an eternity 'my world is falling to darkness , this is terrible. I still can't shake the feeling that this is real...how is...this real?'

Eventually she let's go of the tree , being too injured to fight further.  
The portal got her so fast she didn't feel a thing.  
-

black , everywhere

floating in a void '  
'When am I gonna wake up? I don't know how long I've been here,...'

The portal took her here , hanging in darkness. absolutely nothing happening in her sub conscience.  
She thought for a While that she was in the realm of darkness, or maybe even a dark corridor seeing as heartless ravaged her world, but no.

'Here I have no physical body , or i'm so paralyzed I can't feel anything.  
It's so dark I can't tell.'

'Also what was up with the sudden heartless invasion , one moment it's a happy but boring day and then suddenly death by cute black creatures and portals,  
and if all this kingdom hearts stuff is to be believed..shouldn't I be in Traverse town or 's where sora went after all.

'I'm bored now' , any pain She felt faded long ago. She's even taken to trying to remember entire movies she watched in a vain attempt at entertainment.  
The theatre in her mind currently showing her the Aladdin movie , Jafar has just taken over Agrabah.  
But Imagining it is just not the same as watching.

'why is this taking so long!...',

'I now knew it wasn't a dream. Im probably dead. The afterlife sucks, was this going to go on for eternity?  
Will i ever see my parents again , what is Kingdom Hearts 3 like?'  
all these painful questions repeated in her mind

'Roxas...we won't...fade , we'll meet...again

wait ...I hear a voice...Its whispering... but not too me...wait I heard something about Roxas ...was that Namine?'

blink..

"oh snap!", I'm ...confused.'In an instant Twilight town was in front of her.  
Just like that , She has a body now and She's somehow in twilight town.  
she noticed a distinct lack of caring that everything is weird She had felt no need to panic at all.

"what else is different?"

she examines her hands , she's wearing creepy black gloves that look like heartless claws , and her skin is really pale.

This requires even further investigation!

'The shops windows should do the trick and...holy crap!'  
"Im Adorable!"

Her black hair was in a ponytail with two bangs framing her porcelain face ,the hair looks like it got even darker than it was before. Like it was dipped in the sheen it gives of is a light purple.  
Also calling it hair would be going to far, it's more like flowy clumps.

She also had fucking glowing yellow eyes!  
Where the hell was her pupils

'I've been shrunk , I look thirteen or so...I use to be 19...Im like a doll and my feet are my shoes?...That's really weird." Her pale skin just turns heartless black at thigh length and she has no toes , only pointed feet.  
her knees has a weird pointed edge on each side.

Now that she looked at her knees, she notices her limbs are kinda thin too.  
Also the bottom of the dress keeps giving of a purple black mist.  
Witch kinda made her want to run in circle's to see it following her.

Then Of course the most glaringly obvious thing...On the short black dress ,with a heartless symbol, she's wearing , there's something even worse , a hole in the shape of a heart...  
all the way thru her chest...

Her eyes widened..,"ok, What ..the hell?".

"im..."

"crap I'm a heartless!"


	2. Chapter 2

Authors note : Thanks for the reviews in the previous chapter! I tried making this one a bit longer. It's harder that I thought it would be. Anyway enjoy!

Chapter 2:Of fight's and failure's -

'Im...a heartless'  
the more she stared at herself the more in a daze she became , she looked adorable...but also really evil.  
she's totally not evil , or is she now? Does this mean she had too eat hearts... gross Since this is real life and all does that mean she has too like literally claw someone open and...

'lets not think about that, maybe I can be the first heartless too survive on chicken burgers , that would be awesome.  
Having a Chicken burger for every meal of the day would be the best thing ever.

Someone taps her shoulder."aycuck, excuse me miss , but cha wouldn't happen to have seen da king would cha" "she doesn't know who the king is ya bIg Palooka!", a second voice shouts from behind

'wait I know those voices...I really shouldn't turn around. shit this is bad , there are bonafied heartless killers right behind me , what should I do?' , ruby tensed as she tried to find a solution to her problem.

"whoops , sorry bout that , da king is a mouse with big ol ears , he's really short too" , said goofy scratching his head

"Hey! don't call the king short!", Donald shouted from further behind

"uhm miss? are you..okay?" , a third younger voice asks.

That's Sora for sure, I have no chance if they attack me.  
'crap,crap, crappity crap! ok Ruby you got this..just pretend you aren't a heartless', she thought nervously before swallowing and turning around

"nopesorryhaven'tseenanykingokbi!" , she blurted out before trying to run , only to be intercepted by sora

" a heartless!",the three of them yelled That didn't take long , guess they have too much experience with heartless.  
now I have to find a way to make them not kill me.

a staff smacked her on the head

"owww...why'd you hit me you stupid duck!?",Ruby said suddenly feeling kinda angry That really hurt!

" a talking heartless", Goofy corrected their earlier statement , "gosh she doesn't seem so bad , right guys?"  
"weeell ,she didn't attack us or anything and it doesn't look like she was doing anything bad.",said Sora looking very confused

Ruby was feeling hopeful , her talking seemed to make them doubt her evilness , so she should do more of that "Jip, totally not evil , I'm totally a good guy!", she said trying to appear unintimidating Hoping to convince them of her innocence

"Sora! don't be stupid! Heartless eat hearts! ,shouted donald before lifting his staff A moment later a tunderblot blasted Ruby on the head sending her flying and rolling on the floor.  
Wait ..she's smoking , that's not good , and she was paralyzed for a bit despite the fact thats shes made of darkness.

'ow,ow,ow and ow that hurt!",when she looked up all traces of friendliness had vanished from sora and Goofy .  
All three of them ready to attack.  
Fighting stance and all.  
'crap this is not good , I can't fight them!' wait she's a heartless right?..and she's not a boring shadow either.  
That must mean shes boss level at least.  
maybe she's super strong , besides if shes right , and judging from the ugly red suit sora's wearing , se is ,she's almost certain Namine just woke him up .So he's probably still weak as hell , like Lvl 1 or something. She's got this.

"Im warning you! , I'm a big bad heartless , you guys don't stand a chance."She said smiling and getting into a fighting stance...a really stupid kungfu pose she made up on the spot."riiight i think we'll take our chances", Said sora staring at the awkward pose.  
Some kinda pitying expression crossing his face

oth her arms were out way above her head ,like a birds wings at full extension.  
Her body leaning forward on her left leg and her back leg extended gracefully behind her in what could only be described as the most powerful fighting pose to exist.

"Diiiieee mortals", Ruby suddenly yelled charging at sora with a fist drawn back...only for Goofy to bash her into the air with his shield.  
The Blow disorientating her , which way is up?

Sora jumped up after her and slashed her back down with the keyblade , if she had lungs the impact would have knocked the wind out of her.  
'ugh...owww'

before she could try to move a thunderbolt came from the heavens and blasted her.

The three got ready for a counter attack only to be surprised when Ruby started crying , slowly getting up "uhm..are you okay",Asked Sora , ever the good guy ,unsure if he should even ask , but doing it anyway.

"...m...meanies"muttered Ruby before running away as fast as she could crying everything that happened hitting her at once , along with a good amount of physical pain and the fear of death.

"Uhm fellas maybe we should let er go", Said Goofy looking really guilty

"yeah i think so too", said sora staring bewildered at the retreating figure Donald just grumbled looking completely unsure of himself

They were aware they just let a dangerous creature loose , but something told them this creature won't hurt anyone.  
Not that it could with how horrible it's fighting style is. -

Ruby's back was pressed against the wall in the alleyway she darted too , hiding , she waited ,trying too hear if the gang followed her.  
But they didn't. she's been standing like this for the better part of ten minutes. They weren't chasing her she sighed before sliding down the wall and stared at the crates littering the place .

'guess i'm not a bad ass heartless afterall , man they beat me so fast , damn that was embarrassing 'I'm really emotional today , but I guess that makes sen...no sense at all',her eyes widened in confusion 'If i'm a heartless , then I shouldn't be able to feel anything right? what gives?' she thought bewildered.

She does realise however that there was a weird emptiness inside her that she longs to fill.  
that seems more like a heartless thing , to try and fill that void with hearts or something ,but it's not that strong of a craving , maybe it's instinct which makes heartless do it.

'now that i have calmed down , I should think of what to do now , I don't want to be a heartless..maybe I should try to find a way to change back.  
but i'm guessing this world is dangerous for a lil heartless girl like me.'

She realised she has to go find Sora again , he travels to all kinds of worlds , and that is how she can find a way to turn back.  
there's bound to be someone who knows something on one of them.  
'where would sora be about now...crap he's heading for Yen Sid .I have to get to him before he gets on that train.'

The search was on. She used her memories of her previous gaming life to navigate herself towards the station , passing by the usual spot on her way.  
She thought about going to meet Heiner and his gang but thought better of 's a heartless , they will likely just freak out.  
Then she will have to beat them down , surely she can handle at least weak kids.  
speaking of , she should probably also try to remain out of sight. Scaring the locals might turn out to be a bad idea.  
She also had no idea if other heartless will attack her seeing as she was one of them.  
But she's not about to try and find out.

When she got to the station she saw the gang having a tearful goodbye with Heyners now would only cause a commotion.  
If she can't even touch Sora , then a group like that would smoke her.  
So she did the logical thing and snuck by them all and hid herself under a chair in the train.  
"This way I can also have revenge", she muttered to herself , thinking of donald hitting her on the head.  
with how quick he was to decide she's a monster , he deserved it.

sure if she's going for revenge , she should really get them all, that beating hurt. She idly noted she wasn't hurt anymore.  
She kinda need them so making them mad would only be bad for her health.

Suddenly she heard the boys enter the train , Donald and Goofy trying to cheer up a sad Sora.  
More like a sad remnant of Roxas leaving his friends.  
The had a lot in common

Now for operation bop Donald on the head for revenge

She waited for Donald to walk by her to sit down , the other two conveniently already finding seats a bit to the back of the cart.  
The moment Donald walked by she rolled out from under the seat , jumped up and

Bam!

smacked him on the head

"waaak!" he screamed jumping forward and turning around Sora and Goofy also jumping up

"oooh yeah , sweet revenge",Ruby said snickering like a maniac , barely keeping herself from bursting into laughter, with no idea how creepy she looked when she did that.  
"you!", yelled Sora , " back for more!" , He yelled summoning the keyblade , Donald getting his staff a moment later.

Crap , the duck looked peeved.  
that was probably dumb, she doesn't have anywhere to run

"Heeey now , calm down , I was just mess..." , Duck! , the keyblade whizzing inches from her face "C'mon , the duck hit me first , it's totally fair!" , swerve left , jump onto a chair "I need your help please!" , She begged jumping away from a blast of ice magic

"like wed help a heartless!" , Sora yelled , Donald contributing a yeaa! before they charged again This is bad , Im being pressed against the back of the train , I cant dodge.  
These people are heartless.

Sora charged forward with a yell , keyblade ready to slice me.  
Dammit I can't die again , she thought curling into a ball and shielding her head with her claw like hands.  
Regretting her petty nature now more than ever,  
She shut her eyes , bracing for impact.

Clang! she ...didn't feel anything.

She slowly opened her eyes ..to find goofy shielding her

"Hey what's the big idea!" , yelled Donald ready to cast a spell

"gawrsh fella's , I think we oughta hear her out , she didn't fight ya so maybe she's not bad." Goofy my hero! Yes , I'll live another day.

"But she's a heartless!" , yelled Donald looking at goofy as if he's dumb , screw you duck your way more dumb.

She caught soras eye , he was staring at her , trying to gauge her reaction or something.  
She tried her best to maintain eye contact.  
After a bit he seemed satisfied and nodded , dismissing his keyblade.  
"okay , well hear her out" , he said before taking a seat.

"Whaat!" , yelled Donald , before storming Sora THe whispered a bit , throwing her looks every now and then.  
They were so obviously arguing about her , the whispering was useless.

"Here ya go" , said Goofy before offering his hand...screw that he saved my life. He gets a heartless hug.  
She pulled him closer the moment she was up.  
He tensed for a moment , probably scared of an attack, before relaxing and patting her back.  
"Thank you" , Ruby muttered

Goofy is now officially my favorite character in this place.

This made Sora look kinda pained.

She proceeded to tell them everything that happened to her up to this point.  
Making sure to stick close to Goofy the entire time.

"This doesn't make any sense , if you lost your heart , then how are you even here?" , asked Sora trying to figure it out "I don't know , When you found me in town I was kinda still in a daze" , replied Ruby

Donald looked constipated as he wracked his brain for any answer that could help..but nothing.

"Fellas,maybe master Yen Sid would know" , came a helpful suggestion from Goofy , causing Ruby to look hopeful Why didn't she realise it sooner , it was so obvious.  
Yen Sid is a really powerful sorcerer , maybe he can turn her back!  
Or atleast pont her in the right direction.

"Yeah ! he'll know what to do!" , Came a sudden shout from Donald

"Well ,I guess we owe you an apology Ruby", said Sora before all three were suddenly before her,causing her to jump in fright,  
each half ashamed to make eye contact.

"Were sorry",Came the simultaneous chorus of apologies

If she could , Ruby would be completely red in the face she looked away , rubbing the behind of her head.  
"well , i didn't really go about things the right way so Im sorry too" ,Ruby was kinda questioning her sanity the more she thought about her dumb revenge move...  
Then her eyes caught a look outside

"Wow..." , she said in stunned silence, watching all the stars and worlds whizzing past their train , all previous thoughts vanishing.  
she hadn't ever seen something this beautiful in her life.  
The wide array of colors shining brightly in the dark , mesmerizing her

"That's exactly what I said the first time I saw this" , said Sora sitting next to her , looking outside Donald and Goofy were locked in their own conversation Giving them this likely talking about finding the king.

"That's what we're trying to protect , all those worlds. Thats why were fighting the Heartless and Nobodies.  
To stop all those lights from dying" , said Sora with a wishful smile

Ruby didn't know how to respond to that , so she didn't. just kept staring at all those different worlds.  
Suddenly feeling very empty, she felt somehow that those worlds can make her feel whole again.  
But she knows that those were probably just the craving of her heartless side , so she clamped down on it.

Finally the train slowed to a stop.  
Ruby curiously trying to peek from her window. She had thought now that this is real life, the world would be like earth , a big planet.  
But instead she stared at a small floating piece of land.A single tower like building surrounded by trees , the only things inhabiting the tiny world.  
she wondered if it had a heart like all the other worlds.

The moment the train completely stopped Ruby was the first at the door as it opened ,trying to get to her cure as quickly as possible.  
nearly running out..  
bam!

"oww my nose!" yelled Ruby holding her nose , glaring at the opening.  
she cautiously moved closer again , lifting her hand to try and get it out...only to be met with an invisible force blocking it.

"c'mon! move it" , yelled Donald from the back of the line , his impatience getting the better of him.  
"i cant!" Ruby yelled practically banging on the forcefield "what's wrong?" ,asked Sora coming to stand next to her.  
"I can't get out!" panic began to set in , causing her to start clawing at the force field The smoke from her dress intensifying , nearly blocking her as if to match her panicked movements.

"maybe it's cuase yer a heartless" , Goofy said , again being of more help than Ruby expected him to be.  
Turns out , hes the voice of reason in the group.

A hand landed on her shoulder , Sora looking her in the eye.  
"I guess we'll have to go talk to him about letting you in"Sora gave her a reassuring smile,"Don't worry , well sort this out", before moving past her.  
Goofy and Donald sharing a look before following him.

He managed to calm her , now she's just disappointed "well this is just great , stuck in a train in the middle of nowhere."Ruby muttered , plopping down on a chair with some force.

She heard a commotion outside , a big armoured cat just summoned some heartless.  
Sora and the gang making quick work of them.  
That must be Pete , how come he's here again?

But this left her with another question , if those heartless can be there , then why can't she.  
Just what is she? maybe she's not a heartless at all.  
Tho the symbol on her dress says she is.

She saw Pete run off , the boys going inside the tower shortly after.  
since she had time she'll try to get out again, backing up as far as she could, and shielding her face.  
She prepared herself and charged...

"why is the roof spinning' , she said , sitting up.  
She was happy to note that yes ...she can see stars twirling around her head.  
That's kinda cool in a weird way.  
but if this is real life , and her world was a part of it , she did wonder why it never happened before

Some time passed , the silence was deafening , her thoughts drifting back to that empty void.  
Floating nothingness with a shudder she promised herself too try to never go back there again if she could help it.  
The boredom was worse than death.

'Wonder if my parents got out...I shouldn't count on it , with everything that happened they're probably dead."  
She was the one who got that staff thing , and she could hardly do anything , they stood no chance.  
"damm.." ' some tears leaked from her glowing eyes , but she hardly felt any sadness , again she only barely felt things that would usually make her heart ache.

For some reason the inability to be sad , made her more sad than losing her world.

'Damn now i m kinda depressed , why are they taking so long?  
Maybe they ditched me , the bastards.  
I know i would've', Ruby was now just laying on the seat , staring at the roof.

wait

somethings wrong

She suddenly jumped up , she felt weird...'wait , im glowing...why'..pop she blinks out of existence .

"...am I glowing?"

suddenly appearing in front of a very scary looking old man in wizards clothes.

"hmmm..." he hummed , staring right thru her

"uhm...Hi " Ruby squeaked ,suddenly she felt the need to self consciously cover the hole in her chest.  
This Guy is really scary. she felt the power rolling of off him like an ocean of explosions.

"This is most interesting" said who Ruby assumed was Yen said

The Yen sid...

This just got a whole lot more crazy.


	3. Chapter 3

Authors note: aaaaand i'm back with another chapter , I also updated chapter 1 a bit.  
It's still short , but I put some things in that I missed the first time.  
Anyway , This one is longer again. I'm trying to slow down my writing.

Enough rambling tho ONWARD!

People talking People thinking

-  
Chapter 3: Witches and wizards

"Interesting indeed" , mused the sorcerer as he stared at the twitching heartless before him.

Ruby for one was having a panic attack , she had no idea how yen sid is doing it , but his presence alone is causing her to go in a frenzy.  
But it was truly amazing , the amount of power this wizard held. Ruby knew for sure that he would know what to do to help her.

He seemed like he knew everything and had all the awnsers

"I have no knowledge of any such heartless , I do not believe I can be of much help" , said Yen.

"whaat?!", She felt immediately let down , how's it even possible that someone like Yen Sid doesn't know something.  
'This can't be happening , what do I do now?'

"Isn't there anything you can do?" asked Sora, sad for his new friend

"Quite a few things , but they are merely ideas , I have no way of knowing if it would work or perhaps even worsen it ". The sorcerer shook his head , a frown adorning his face.

"It seems that when she lost her heart to darkness , by some miracle a small piece remained intact , not enough to stop the transformation , You are barely a shadow of what you once were."  
The old man nodded as he spoke ,"But now I must ask you to explain what you remember of that night , the key to your survival might be hidden within the events.".

Sora pulled a face at his friend reliving so tragic for a third time , but Ruby didn't even bat an eye. Launching into the tale of her demise.  
Once she finished Yen sid looked contemplative , stroking his beard as he thought.

"I believe it would be beneficial if we were able to get you to summon that staff once more , it sounds like it is some form of weapon of light.  
Likely it was the reason you were able to pull thru.", was Yen sid's final conclusion

"But how will I do that", truthfully Ruby was worried that a heartless like her wouldn't be able to summon this weapon of light , or worse...  
summoning it ends her existence.

"Fear not for I shall guide you as best I can",a smile on Yen Sid's face? That just looks weird...wait "I am not scared , heartless or not I'm a bonafide badass!" she proclaimed proudly , holding her clawlike fist into the air in a 'cool pose'.

Donald and Goofy immediately recoiled and gasped at the crass language , but Sora snickered.  
When Ruby looked over , her eye started twitching. Sora was mimicking her previous fighting pose , even going cross eyed just to annoy her.

"oh your dead" , Ruby charged , chasing Sora thru the room.

Yen Sid looked on with a curious look in his eye ,this heartless girl intigued him more than he let they are wasting time He cleared his throat.

Ruby completely froze , Embarrassed by her lack of restraint , but before she could apologize a staff whacked her on the head.

"Stop ignoring Master Yen Sid!" , yelled Donald , completely fed up with her disrespect.  
Ruby was twitching , her teeth gnashing together. She found her new pet peeve.  
"Dooonaaald .."She said in a sing song voice , her smile caring and gentle...if not for the fierce glare of her eyes you would think nothing is wrong."you better watch your back"

Donald gulped , Sora and Goofy held each other in the corner , shivering in fear.

"Sora Im Scared" , complained Goofy

"I know buddy , me too" was Sora's response

Ruby suddenly remembered something"uh master Yen Sid sir?"  
"hmm"The blue robe wearing old guy in a pointy hat inclined his head.

"earlier when I tried to enter the world something stopped me , but that cat guy could summon heartless without a is that?"  
The reason she asked was because if she was going to visit other worlds she didn't want a repeat performance of what happened earlier...also she was just damn curious. Deal with it.

"Ah...as you may have noticed this world is very small ,it makes it quite easy to fend of invading forces. But instead of such tedious things I have instead erected a barrier around this world to minimize conflicts and keep heartless at bay.

However if one were to be able to pass thru , as Pete...that Cat..did , he would be able to summon heartless inside without issue , as he would be opening a door to the realm of darkness that already leads to inside the he is unable to summon vast amounts of heartless at a time."

Ruby nodded at the explanation , it made sense in a weird way , tho to constantly keep up a barrier must be taxing.  
'wonder how he sleeps?'

"How'd he get into the barrier" asked Donald hand on his hips and tapping his foot , it was a good question . Maleficent shouldn't be back yet so it's just Pete and he's nothing impressive.

"that would be my fault ,he has been trying to find a way into my world for quite some time.A sudden burst of negative energy pulled my concentration just enough for him to slip thru.I was about to deal with him when I sensed your approach".Despite his explanation , being reminded of the amount of negative energy he sensed in the air worried him greatly for new reasons.

I believe... that it would be best if Ruby were to remain at the tower for now"His face was dead serious , and that made ruby kinda annoyed ,  
she was hoping on going on a adventure with the gang like in those fanfics she she did see his logic, afterall how was he to help her with the staff thing if she wasn't here.  
" i guess that's a good idea " she was kinda disappointed about being stuck in a tiny tower , but fixing herself should be top priority.

"Wouldn't it be better if she traveled with us , there's bound to be someone who can help!?"Sora was kinda disappointed she had to stay , despite the rocky start they became quick friends.

"I'm afraid not , the dark presence i'm sensing is familiar , but unimaginably stronger , I am almost certain she would stop at nothing to get her hands on she will have more time to prepare herself for such an occurrence.".The dark expression on Yen Sid's face was terrifying and silenced any protests.

"Wait Master Yen sid, It sounds like ya know what the dark penance is?",Goofy looking weirdly serious for a moment

"Presence!" corrected Donald , he's annoying like that.

"Indeed ...this presence belongs to Maleficent , I fear she would be returning soon",The sorcerer practically growled. For a person opposing darkness ,  
he had an awful lot of hate in his voice in that moment.

"Maleficent!" The boys yelled , Ruby on the other hand was having a panic attack , The witch was always her favorite of the disney villains next to Jafar , The Kingdom Hearts appearance just made her more awesome...but in real life , it wasn't as cool. Her evil cackle ringing thru Ruby's mind.  
This was THE Mistress of darkness, there was no doubt at all that Maleficent would want something like her.

A little while later she and Yen Sid said goodbye to the boys , who was leaving by gummi ship...witch in real life looked just as incapable of flight as in the game. But it was still pretty cool.  
Like a giant ship made of Legos

They still felt bad for leaving her , but the reason was quick to sway everyone.  
Maleficent was not nice.

soon she was alone with the old wizard , who began guiding her back into the tower

and back to the top of all those stairs ,She might not be able to get tired but damn that walk was boring.  
It got really weird when they reached the top tho , when Yen sid opened the door to his office...there was no office , only a giant empty room?  
By giant ...she really meant Giant, she could hardly see the roof, and the sides were almost the size of a football field.

"What the hell just happened!?" , the heartless girl stormed past the old man into the room , looking around as if the furniture was hiding.

Yen Sid smiled as he entered."This will be were we will attempt to draw out your staff , I fear we have little time so I shall show you to your room later."

Quickly swallowing her fear , Ruby put on a brave face , certain the sorcerer knew what he was doing.  
"Right , so how do I start?" , She did some mock stretching despite having no muscles , she quickly found out she could bend any way she wanted to...witch was really creepy.

She was sure the wizard would give her some wise training method for summoning a weapon of light, afterall he is deeply involved in guiding keybladers.

"Hmmm...that is a good question" , Yen Sid nodded approvingly , and then said nothing else.

...  
...

...  
..

"Wait? you mean you have no idea what to do?" , Ruby was flabbergasted , what the hell.

"Yes", He didn't even sugar coat it , he had never before seen anything like her , he was completely out of his element, witch annoyed him to no end.  
"Perhaps just try to will it to manifest , Try drawing it from your heart...or what remains of it."

Well ...it was something at least.  
She held out her hand and tried to will it..

nope

Took deep calming breaths

nadda

Tried full blown meditation

zip

she took a nap in the guise of meditation

Didn't really help any , but she felt smug for sneaking it past Yen Sid.

The she snapped ..."Agh! I can't take it anymore , just how long is this fucking training going to take!." The smoke from her dress went crazy , blowing around her , oddly enough still leaving her upper body and face , smoke free.

"Calm yourself, Clearly this method has failed. we shall try a different approach." He was in front of her so suddenly that she stopped mid shout and fell on her behind.

"What do you mean?" , The dark girl was certain the look on Yen Sid's face didn't mean anything good.

"WHY ARE WE DOING THIS AGAIN?!" ,Duck ,roll, side, step ,jump ,roll , rinse and repeat

For the last two hours Ruby has been trying to defend herself against Yen Sid's onslaught of spells.  
He didn't give her a moment to think , and her lack of any skills at all made this even worse.  
She was very thankful she can't feel muscle pain

"I am attempting to force you to summon your evading is not an must try to defend yourself,otherwise this is for nought!." , The spells came faster than before and Ruby was cursing herself for opening her mouth.

She just kept dodging tho , too scared to actually take a hit.  
She could avoid like nobody's business tho.

After a while Yen Sid's patience wore thin , he decided to go big too prevent her from dodging.

He lifted the wand in his hand into the air.

Ruby was left gaping at the sheer size of the fireball that he spawned , she could only compare it to some of the attack from Dragon Ball Z.  
She knew then that Yen Sid was aiming to kill.

Or at least she thought so , the massive spell was hollow on the inside and had very little magical power.  
It could barely do more damage than a regular fire spell.

Don t tell her tho.

But the spell did it's job ,She was fearing for her existence witch the wizard expected could lead to her willing it to protect her.

He released the spell.

She had nowhere to go ,stuck ,she wouldn't be fast enough to move , blocking was also out of the question. She could just curl up and bear it.  
She wished with all her might to escape .to be anywhere else.

Then she felt herself get swallowed into something.

She waited ..and She waited a bit more.

When she realised there was no pain she opened her eyes.  
...she was INSIDE the ground

What the hell!

Shwe could see the world as if she was lying on her back, but she was also distinctly flat.

she tried movin...'holy hell That's FAST!'

Her attempt to move caused her to shoot forward at insane speeds...into a wall.

"oww".

but that seemed to also work as she could traverse into the wall.

What caused her to fall on her head was the change in perspective throwing her off...and out of the wall.

"okay ...did you see that! What the hell! I was in the floor!.", She was frantically jumping up and down.  
Having conveniently forgotten about the giant fireball in wake of her discovery.

This was really super cool , with an ability like this she can be like a super awesome ninja heartless thing.  
Just wait until she sees Donald again , he won't see her revenge coming before it's too late.

"I believe it is one of your abilities as a heartless , in future training you might discover more.  
Now come , I shall take you to your room , at least we managed some form of progress today."

They walked out the door back onto the stairs , only for Yen Sid to close it and open it again , suddenly there was a hallway filled with doors lining the sides.  
She assumed these were the sleeping quarters. she had to wondered how this tiny tower was so big on the inside.

They walked past a few rooms before entering a door on the left side.  
The room itself was very bland in decor , only a bed , desk and closet , If it wasn't for the orange walls and red blanket it would be one hella boring room.

On the desk there was a plate with a wide variety of foods, almost as if they weren't sure what to give her.  
It ranged thru fruits , vegetables , meat , junk food and was also a cup of tea to wash it down.

Yen Sid refused to make eye contact , and she could swear he was blushing.

That made it kinda awkward.

"I do not know if you require sleep , but if your earlier nap was any indication , you are capable of at least some form of sleep" , The smirk on his face was infuriating He turned the tables , now she's the embarrassed one.

"gha...uhm...wha..i fifn...how?" She couldn't believe she was caught , this was humiliating.

"You snore quite loudly." , Then he was gone , leaving her to her embarrassment

"Dammit !"

After a while she managed to settle down , she was happy too note she can indeed taste the food , but not hunger.  
It also didn't make her feel full at all , the emptiness inside always present.

She had managed to get a few hours of sleep in the very uncomfortable bed when a scream woke her up.  
"aaahhh!"

"What the hell!" , sudden flashbacks of her world dying had her flying out of the room and into the hallway.

Her vision overlapping with her passed , she saw her house in flames before she was back in the hall of Yen Sid s tower.

She was momentarily at a loss of where to go when she heard some frantic muttering from the room a few doors down.

She opened the door...and immediately regretted it.

All three good fairies unconscious on the floor.

a crow on the shoulder of the one person she forgot would make an appearance.

Green skin , dark black and purple robes , a staff and horns on her head.

And That god awful evil cackle.

Maleficent was standing in front of her.

"my my , what an interesting creature , tell me dear ...why don't you come with me?  
I can take very good care of you , give you all the hearts you need hmmm." ,The witch held her hand out to her.

The look on her face shook Ruby Not because it was evil , but because it looked motherly , full of hope and kindness.  
Not a shred of evil intent.

She was disgusted with herself when she realised her hand was halfway to taking maleficent's hand.  
This woman was terrifying.  
Even when shes playing nice.

Ruby did the smart thing , she turned to run out but to her dismay ..

Bam!

the door slammed shut in front of her.

"Now now my dear , why so hasty?" , now she has a smirk...shes the cat Ruby the mouse Fight or flight?  
The escape is cut off.  
She only has one choice.

""I...Im not going anywhere with you bitch!" , Ruby tried to look brave but...it's like the very darkness she was made off was shivering.

"My...what a foul mouth you have..I like ...HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!."The surprise cackle made Ruby stumble back

She was messing with her , not even a bit intimidated. This made Ruby angry , really angry

"Dammmiiit!" , fist pulled back she charged , hoping to put up a fight at least.

a wave of her hand , that's all it took.  
Ruby was pinned to the wall , helpless. The Mistress of darkness slowly advancing , all traces of emotion was gone from her face.  
Her eyes were studying Ruby , seeing thru she thought Yen Sid's stare made her uncomfortable , then this made her feel frozen in terror.

Maleficent slowly caressed her cheek

"My...you poor little heartless , you still have some of your heart.  
Id take it out . but then you wouldn't be special anymore...but perhaps...yes...Yes!.  
I can snuff out the light , leaving only the darkness ...yes , then you shall be the perfect pawn for my plans!"

Her hand moves down to the hole in her chest , It's starting to glow

'escape , escape , escape!' Ruby was panicking , she cant move , and the witch was about to take the last of her.

'move move move movemovemovemove!,' dark

She popped out of the wall on the other side of the room , a distance away from where she was before.  
she managed to travel by sinking into the wall ...she thinks?, but she's not out of the woods yet.

"A slippery one are you dear , perhaps it's time I stop playing around!" , suddenly the room was engulfed in a sea of green flames , the unnatural power licking at everything,turning it too ash.

Ruby was suck , there was nowhere to run , she was trapped.

Then she heard a whimpering looked to her left , the flames were almost upon the three unconscious fairies.  
'no, noononnononono , this can't be happening , they aren't supposed to die!'

'What do i do , I gotta help them!' Ruby ran towards the fairies.  
Despite being helpless herself.

Maleficent , seeing this got an idea , the flames came to life.  
It moved like a flaming snake , slithering at the fairies from all directions.

Ruby barely made it in time ,to jump on them to shield their bodies before the fire was upon her.

silence

"aaaaaaaaaahhhhhhh!"

There was a flash of light that burst from the flames , bright and powerful.  
dosing all the blinding in its purity

then it flickered ..faded...before everything went pitch black.  
No one would be able to see even their hands in front of their face.  
A few seconds later light slowly came back , returning the room to normal.

Ash and scorch marks visible everywhere.

Ruby was standing in front of the fairies , arms crossed and panting Completely fine.

in her right hand...

Was the staff , or what was left of it. The shaft was dark and rusted.  
The tip was like a sharp leaf , but the bottom of the leaf curved into a bowl.  
Inside the bowl are a green broken glass ball, the entire top was missing.  
The bottom had a tiny spike with a hole in it , a chain going thru it.  
The chain was broken however and would just drag on the floor.

Ruby could tell , it was weaker , she could almost say she felt it in her heart.  
Like this weapon, just like her, barely survived death.  
Yes, it felt sentient , alive but in pain.  
And almost empty.

"my what an interesting turn of events , but do not let it fool you child.  
It may have saved you for a moment longer...BUT YOUR STILL COMING WITH ME!"

Maleficent spread her arms and her staff started glowing.

Boom!

The door burst open , a giant heartless blasted straight thru into maleficent's hastily put up shield.

In walked Yen Sid ...and he was furious.

There was blue light dancing around him like fire, tho Ruby was dead certain she saw sparks of black every now and then.

His entire presence commanded respect.  
Before the witch could say anything a ball of light blasted her into the wall.

"you should not have returned Maleficent , the light shall purge you from the world anew!"Yen Sid roared angrily.

"heheheheh hahahahaahahahHAHAHAHAHAHAAHAH HA HA HA!" She could barely stand , but she was laughing as if she found something hilarious.

"We will meet again child , be certain of it!" The green flames from before swallowed her before Yen Sid's second spell could hit her.  
Vanishing into darkness.

And then .it was over Just like that.

"MALIFICEEENT!" Yen Sid Roared angrily

Ruby however collapsed into a pile on the floor , sobbing , be she didn't shed a single tear.


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4

Authors note

Yikes , sorry for the long wait , life happened.  
Anyway ,I decided to try and improve my writing , so let me know if its better than previous chapters.  
also I do not own kingdom hearts

Enjoy

She met the three fairies the next day , when she went by the room the fairies took after the incident.  
They couldn't stand to go near their old one , and honestly she couldn't either Luckily they weren't seriously 's a miracle Yen Sid arrived when he did.  
Maleficent being who she is , had a lot of very strong heartless holding him it all turned out ok in the one of the fairies died Yen Sid might have decided she's more trouble than she's worth.

Ruby was currently in her room , the fairies keeping her company.  
"ooh deary how bout this , im sure youll look wonderful in this", That was fuana holding up a green dress at the moment.  
Her gaze so expectant and happy that ruby had no idea how to tell her that she couldn't take off her clothes...it being part of her and all.  
'Someone get me out of here' , Ruby thought staring at this phenomenon in front of her.  
Eversince the fairies heard she saved them , they have been trying to give her a gift as thanks.  
But they have made no progress in the last two hours of trying.

Of course flora and merryweather won't just let poor ol Ruby wear something so green.  
"make it blue!"  
"make it Red!"  
The other two simultaneously shouted "Why would I do that when green is such a lovely colour?" Fauna seemed genuinely confused , If Ruby hadn't already heard this argument about her lamp , bed and closet she would have doubted her.  
" oh nothing's wrong with them deary , red's just better than green." Flora said this with a sure nod , flying up to fuana.  
"Well I think both are stupid , blue is way better" Merryweather flew up to them hands on her hips

"Red!"  
"green!"  
"blue!"  
k The were now casting spells at the dress in fuana's hands , it's color keeps changing to match their exclamation.  
Magical sparks flying left and right as their magic flew from their little sticklike were even starting to sweat from exerting their mana this much, on something as stupid as a dress.  
Girls! perhaps we should ask her what she likes?",This suggestion made Ruby Freeze

'crap!'

"Great idea!" " you like blue right!?"  
Suddenly they were in her face , each hoping to get one up on each other.  
"uhhm...I...uhhh"Ruby was at a loss , she didn't want to offend her host's , but telling them the truth might make them sad , Then she also has to consider the fact that she likes black...and kinda hate most anything besides that and purple.  
Tho's if she honestly could choose one of the three it would definitely be Red , it would go with her hair and pale skin.  
"Now , now ladies , I'm sure you can decide on something later , It's time for her training.  
Yen Sid was at the door , he seemed fairly amused at Ruby's predicament.  
"awww I guess" , the fairies were really disappointed , but they didn't catch Ruby mouthing thank you to Yen Sid.  
He cracked a small smirk and nodded for her to follow , leading her into the hall and out the main door

A few minutes later Ruby was back in the giant room , She was sitting cross legged on the floor. Yen Sid was pacing in front of her Last time she was here she didn't really pay much attention , soo she examined the room around her.  
The floors and walls were a faded Yellow , mostly made of giant sized bricks. Unlit torches line the walls of the training room,  
There were also some cracks in the floor from what was probably super powerful spells.  
"so what am I doing today , I already summoned that staff so I doubt that's what were going for" Ruby looked contemplative as she said this , arms crossed

"You have indeed summoned it once , but can you do it again? It would be for the best to practice that when you have the time.  
Today I shall help you unlock your mana , I'm sceptical if it would work , but I do sense that you do indeed have some",He waved his wand and suddenly all background noise vanished , she could even hear Yen Sid's heart beat ,

ba dum ba-dum ba-dum ba-dum ,  
ba dum ba-dum ba-dum ba-dum

ba dum ba-dum ba-dum ba-dum

ba dum ba-dum ba-dum ba-dum ba dum ba-dum ba-dum ba-dum

ba dum ba-dum ba-dum ba-dum

"Alex!"Yen Sid seemed concerned , he was kneeling in front of must have zoned out."Are you well?"  
"uhm yeah , just kinda got lost in thought sorry." She rubbed the back of her head , trying to seem embarrassed.  
Inside however she was unnerved , she was well aware she was focusing on Yen Sid's heart , She's kinda glad she didn't do anything was starting to take notice of all these little times that she happens to be thinking or listening to people's hearts and honestly it's starting to frighten if she hurts someone...or have to leave all her new friends , who would no doubt want revenge , and go find her way back to being human by herself , that would seriously slow her would also be more likely that Maleficent would get her, the mere thought of that terrified her , no longer being able to go her own way , if Maleficent had her she would never be human again.

'Why do I even want to be human again tho? All those painful thoughts and feelings and ...even worse...responsibilities' , Realising her train of thought she immediately stopped , being human was her goal , that's what she would have decided if she still had her heart , so she'll go with that,  
aFter all she is way more special than the average wandering shadow heartless , she can reason with herself , even if her most intense feelings are so very , very muted.  
It wasn't that she couldn't see the benefits of being a heartless , it's more like she's aware that she doesn't have enough of herself present to decide to give up.  
Of Course another thing she wants back is her games , that was her lifeline back home , and heartless or not she can almost certainly say that she longs more for gaming than hearts.

'...holy crap...', Why didn't she think about this sooner...Sephiroth is real now...she can beat him in a one on one fight now.  
Well she could try , that would be one scary fight , but she's sure she can do it ...eventually , right now tho shes weaker than cannon fodder ,  
making Yen Sid's training way more important , witch is why she should probably stop ignoring the super powerful glaring wizard infront of her , with his crossed arms and slow tapping foot...'I bet he could take both Dumbledore and Gandalf in a fight' ,this made her snicker.

"Is something amusing?" Yen Sid quirked his eyebrow , now he kinda made her think of an angry parent scolding a child.  
But that means she's the child , witch ticked her off , she let out a low growl , not liking that condescending tone but deciding to not piss off the one person helping her , so she just said "no sir" before averting her contact might make him mad when he's being parental.  
"Sit down and cross your legs , we will utilize meditation as the means of controlling your mana" , She slowly sat down , crossing her legs and keeping her back tried meditation a few times in her old life , the first few times were great ...but then it got really , really boring.

"Now close your eyes" She did , then she felt something poke her on her head , startled she opened her eyes again , seeing Yen Sid had his wand on her forehead,  
she nearly burst out laughing when she realised what she just thought , but kept her cool."Close your eyes" , He repeated slowly and after she did she felt a burst of energy inside her was like a little ball of power in her head , fluttering around."Follow the energy , it shall lead you towards your mana" ,  
She barely heard Yen Sid , her thoughts were already internalized in a way they never were before , it was so much more intensely calming than her previous slowly followed the energy , down , down and down some more , then near the right side of her stomach area she felt it.A energy that felt oddly familiar , yet she knows she never touched it little powerball fizzled out unnoticed."Now that you found it , fokus on it and try to move it into different shapes" Yen Sid's voice was hardly a whisper and she was fairly certain he had to use magic for her to hear that. But she did as told , slowly willing it into different was like she can visually see what it was doing , it was captivating.

Yen Sid was very worried , the first five or so hours were normal when unlocking ones mana , but she hasn't moved in more than a day , he was nervous about disturbing her because her mana felt more volatile than normal and it may react violently , but he realised she might not come out by herself.  
Witch was partially true , ruby was having a figured out how to split her mana into two parts , she ofcourse did the obvious thing and made a game out of it , shaping both into humanoid characters and making them fight...it got to the point where she reshaped them into her and sephiroth.  
This was the most fun she had since getting here. Even if she controlled both characters , she was at least playing when she was about to guard against Sephiroth's latest stab attempt a voice startled her ,"ALex , come back out here",the voice was filled with concern , when she refocused she realised sephiroth impaled her...even in own Imaginary fights , he still Anger she let go off her mana and snapped out of her trance , feeling very refreshed.

"What were you doing , you have been there for almost a day and a half?" , Yen Sid seemed really worried , but then what he said slapped her in the face.  
"Wait What!? , It's only been a few minutes maybe an hour tops!" , Ruby was now the concerned one , it didn't really feel that long at all, she was kinda hoping to use this as a way to stop her boredom , but if it consumes this much time she might not be able too."Time works differently when directed within our minds,  
witch is what this meditative exercise does , but one can learn to control it with enough practice."Yen Sid's explanation was short and to the point , and he was nearly stupefied when she told him of her little game , apparently that was not a normal thing to do.

After that , she spent a lot of time practicing how to control the time spent inside her , almost ravenously due to finding a way to get her gaming life back somewhat.  
Luckily it wasn't too hard too figure out , despite Yen Sid trying to get her to leave it and move on to casting magic , She was sure he regretted the few tips he gave her when she asked.  
It's been weeks since that first experiment and she has gotten it down too 2 hours outside for one hour inside , it helped that she loved doing was like she was being productive playing games.  
Witch is a combo she didn't know existed.  
Most of her time now went towards her impromptu gaming idea , creating different games with her mana , she was hoping to one day be able to do the same things outside her body , like with telekinesis or something , then she can really play , the problem was her normal lazy streak has come back with the gaming,  
she just doesn't feel like doing few times she left her room the fairies would always crowd her she decided enough was enough.  
She left her room in search of the fairies , by now she could traverse this place like a was going to help them with chores to hopefully try and get some productivity was on her way towards the kitchen , as it was most likely that one of them would be there.

But on her way she noticed something odd , in the hallway she was , there was a old style broom...with arms...and using the straw of its bottom as feet.  
It was currently sweeping back and forth , cleaning the leaned in cautiously and lifted her hand , quick as lightning she grabbed the broomand lifted it to had its arms on its wais...shaft?...and she got the feeling it was glaring at her. Before she could react it had lifted it's straw side up.  
Bending in a way no normal broom should...then promptly swept her face a few caused her grip too loosen and it it stood up it dusted itself off and continued sweeping.

"Ooooh now yer gonna get it" Ruby muttered before diving at the broom , intend on revenge.  
Their impromptu brawl caused a big dust cloud to form.  
When the dust cloud vanished , the broom once again dusted itself off , before noticing all the dust on the floor , it jumped up and down in anger before giving a prone and twitching Ruby one last kick and storming off.

Ruby was ashamed , "I just lost to a broom...A BLOODY BROOM!', her fighting skills really were non existent.  
She lost twice to Sora's group true but she hoped she was at least passible , now thou...she just sucks.

"Are you alright deary?" Healing magic washed over her and when she looked up Flora was n the air above her.  
"Yeah , im fine , just met a really mean broom" , Ruby shuddered at the memory."That's good to hear dear , but why are you all the way out here?  
It's unusual for you" , If she thought this was unusual , then Ruby's next question threw her for a loop.  
"I'm here to ask you if there are any chores I can help with?" , Ruby said it with excitement , but honestly she had too force herself.

Flora was silent for a bit before sighing , deciding not to let this opportunity go to waste.  
"why yes , your timing is quite good , Master Yen Sid told us a little while ago to fix the place up a bit , apparently he's bringing a guest."  
"oh , anyone I know?" Ruby was out of the loop , all the stuff she remembers of this world has long passed .  
"I don't know ,he was very cryptic , anyhoo I think you could do the dishes while I dust this place off.  
Witch is what Ruby did , along with other chores for the rest of the regretted every moment.

Early the next morning the fairies had ushered Ruby out of bed and told her to go to Yen Sid's study but the moment she stepped into the hall she felt like someone was watching her. SHe cautiously looked around , missing the shadow darting by her.  
She moved towards the door when she felt the need to ...Duck!.  
With a heavy thud a giant shuriken pierced the wall in front of her.

"ohhh lucky dodge! your better than I thought you'd be" , Suddenly a black haired girl in a ninja get up had her in a choke hold like hug.  
"I'm the great ninja Yuffie , Yen Sid sent me to train you" , before Ruby can process her words , she was spinned around , hand gripping her shoulders.  
Yuffie stared deep into her glowing yellow eyes."You don't look as bad as I thought you would ...you know , being a heartless and all", She said this before nodding with her eyes closed.

Ruby had enough of being thrown around , she tried to swipe at Yuffie only to be judo thrown into a wall.  
"I take it back...your worse than I if you wanna dance come catch me first."  
Before Ruby could even right herself , Yuffie had dropped a smoke bomb.  
Vanishing before the smoke slowly stood up , rubbing her head.

"fuck this" She walked back to her room and collapsed on her bed.  
She was out like a light as soon as her head hit the bonus of being a heartless.  
She can just decide to sleep and she's out like a had any dreams tho , and that kinda sucked.

splash! Ruby bolted upright , trying to make sense of her surroundings , freezing water dripping from her body.  
She was in the training room , witch she had no idea how she got here.  
"Your no fun y'know , here I am hiding on the roof , and you never show .  
What do I find when I went searching for you instead? You passed out on me"  
The culprit revealed herself by marching around Ruby , trying to look intimidating.  
The grin on Yuffie's face said otherwise.

"ugh...what the hell! First you attack me and now you kidnap me?!" , Ruby was very annoyed , in the game she really liked Yuffie but in real life she seemed very overbearing. She was currently smiling innocently at her.'smug bastard was what that expression told slowly got up and dusted herself , she vaguely realised that was probably her first shower since becoming a heartless.  
She seemed unable to get dirty so she didn't bother.

"I like to teach with hands on approach and with what I saw and heard so far you are gonna need it" before Ruby could respond Yuffie was in her face.  
"sooo is it true Sora beat you in three hits?"Ruby just stared at her before trying to justify herself."It was three on one! And I never fought much before!  
I got them to team up on me , that means they were I AM A BADASS!".

Yuffie was momentarily startled by Ruby's outburst , but quickly put on a condescending smirk , leaning in Yuffie said, "prove it"  
The she jumped away and got a bo staff from out of seemingly some insane ninja sleight of hand.

Ruby realised quickly she was tricked , growling but going with it she summoned her rusty staff.  
'wonder if this thing will even last past the first hit.' It still looked as flimsy as before , rusted and broken.  
While she was grimishing at her staff , her feet were pulled from beneath her , falling on her butt.  
looking up she saw Yuffie holding her bo staff at her throat , "You really shouldn't take your eyes off your opponent , that could get you killed"  
She held her hand out for Ruby , helping her up when she took it.

It was quickly established that Yuffie was a sadist in training , while she couldn't make Ruby do any exercises like pushups and situps.  
It did free up her training to purely skill building , focusing only on her movements , the power of her strikes , how to use mana to augment her power and quickly realised that she had very little in terms of muscle memory , witch made everything that much harder.  
It was immediately clear that she won't be a close range fighter , or an expert...ever.  
The sadist part came from the sheer amount of pain she's feeling , Yuffie wasn't pulling her punches , going for every opening possible.  
If she could she would be bruised from head to toe. It's honestly surprising she didn't seemed to know how to beat her without actually making her vanish but it still hurt a lot.

Yuffie paused mid swing when the door opened and flora came in , "Dearies! hurry up and get ready!, master Yen sid decided we should welcome Yuffie here with a feast"This immediately made Yuffie cheer and her stomach grumble , Ruby was also glad , she may not need food , but she could still taste. She was kinda jealous that Yuffie gets a feats while she only got training , but as she said , she didn't really need to eat and it's not like food fills that annoying empty feeling inside her.

The feast itself was great , all of them sitting around a very big table filled with scarfing down most of the chicken , witch was her favorite.  
Yuffie may have a great physique , but it makes no sense with the amounts she can stuff down her literally had a pile of plates next to her.  
The fairies mostly ate fruits and sweets , witch was a really weird combo that also oddly made sense.  
Yen sid himself ...honestly she didn't see what he ate , but there's an empty plate by him so he must have.

Afterwards Yuffie asked Ruby if she wanted to go outside with her , reluctantly Ruby agreed.  
So now their sitting outside Yen sid's tower , and for Ruby it's like the first time she noticed the space around the small floating land.  
All the stars glimmering in the sky , and quite a few shooting could even make out ships flying by in the distance , probably heartless.  
It was a different kind of beauty than when she looked outside while she was on the weird planet hopping train.  
But beautiful nonetheless.

"so...I wanted to ask you how your holding up , with everything that happens I mean , lose your home and turning into a heartless is a pretty big deal and I don't think Yen Sid's the heart to heart type...uhm...heart to no heart type" Yuffie nodded to herself while lying down on the grass to stargaze.  
She looked kinda sad , as if she was remembering something horrible.

"I don't really know , Im kinda annoyed but that's about all , I cant feel like I use to and that's probably a blessing. The me from before would have been a hysterical mess." Ruby looked kinda pained from talking about this , but it was more of a , I spilled my coffee , the 'I lost my world to darkness' pain it should be.

"Wait seriously , you don't feel anything? , Yuffie seemed perplexed , with a hint of disgust hidden in her face.  
"No, I can feel emotions , but I can't reaaly feel . I can be happy or angry , but I don't think I can love , or 's kinda weird like that."  
"your right , that might be a blessing now , I lost my world once too , It was horrible , by the time we got it back everything was in ruins.  
Were in the process of restoring it , but it's gonna take a long time." Se was now sitting up , gazing sadly at her lap.  
"Say , do you think my world can still be restored?" , Ruby felt that if she can bring it back then se should.  
"Sure , some worlds can be saved , come back like nothing ever happened...or like with us where the darkness lingered too long.  
YOu'll get some of it back , but not all".After Yuffie explained this , they just continued to lay there , eventually passing out.

The days passed quickly from there , Ruby spending a lot of time with Yuffie , training or hanging.  
She was still annoyed by her but decided to call her a friend anyway , she had her moments.  
Yen Sid came by every once and a while to test her control over her mana.  
Finally after a few weeks he decided she can learn her first .  
She was currently standing across from a row off unlit torches , the process to cast the spell was explained to her that morning.  
Since then she has been trying to get it , but it's only ever embers and sparks.

Yens Sid and Yuffy were off to the side , Yuffie chatting Yen Sid's ear off as they watched.  
He ignored her , or responded with nods and totally counts as ignoring.

Grunting as she got ready , she lifted her staff once more and yelled "Fire!".But again only tiny sparks and embers appeared.  
Frustrated by the boring and repetitive task , she plopped down on the floor and crossed her arms , staff laying beside her.  
Yen Sid sighted before once more explain explaining the missing crucial element in her spell.  
"As I have told you before , when one wishes to cast fire , one must remember how fire feels.  
You must try and channel the heat from your memories into your staff , only then shall you succeed."

"Im TRYING! but dammit all , I only have a vague recollection of what heat feels like , and its not like I can feel the difference anymore!"  
Well she could...but not drastically enough to be of note, It would probably just hurt , the one sense that doesn't seem dulled.  
AS for remembering what heat felt like , she was imagining holding her hand above a nice fire , only the memory is dulled , she can feel it.  
But even if she put her hand into the imaginary flame , the heat won't increase.

"Perhaps you are not thinking off it correctly , Imagining a flame won't do you any good , you must remember a fire that was significant enough to imprint itself into your memory Do not fret however , after you cast it the first time , you will understand enough to make do without the harshe memories."  
Yen Sid had placed an encouraging hand on her shoulder , his gaze realised quickly to the fire he was referring too.  
She had told him about what happened to her after all , and there's only one fire significant enough to work.  
The night darkness swallowed her world , her house was crumbling , there was fire everywhere , probably caused by some short circuiting electronics.  
She didn't really want to revisit this memory , it made her sad , but not enough to say no , and it was honestly the most vivid fire she can think off."

With a determined nod , she grabbed her staff and got up , Yen Sid move back to Yuffie , who seemed worried about her.  
With a inhale of unneeded air , she lifted her staff into the air , with a yell of"Fire!" she pointed it forward and to her joy a flame , much larger than she expected flew from her staff , toppling all the torches she was suppose to only weird part was that the fire was green , but who cares ass long as it works right?"yes!" with an epic fist pump she turned to look at Yuffie and Yen Sid ,and her mood faltered.

Yuffie looked genuinely frightened and conflicted , and Yen Sid had a very , very dark look on his face.  
One that scared her, he looked like he was holding himself back from blasting her.  
She wondered for a brief minute why before realisation dawned on her , Maleficent uses green flames.  
'Why do I have green flames?'

Yen Sid said nothing , just walked out with Yuffie made a move to follow when a sharp glare from Yen Sid stopped her.  
She waited a while before going to her room to didn't know what to do at the moment , her only friend now seemed scared off her and Yen Sid may very well be contemplating killing her , all for something she has no control over.  
She decided to go to sleep and see what tomorrow brings.

She was up early the next day , just sitting in her thought about getting some breakfast but with the new found tension in the air she decided her taste buds can was thinking more on the fire Malificent used and how similar hers could control hers without even casting fire.  
Make it move that mean she didn't really cast Fire , but maybe called on a darker would make sense with her being a heartless.  
'Duh , Im a dark creature , so obviously my magics gonna be dark, good magic might even hurt me when I cast it , who knows.I think they are overreacting , infact im gonna learn to cast that fire anyway'."It'll probably be really badass to have green flames flowing around me".

She nodded and summoned her staff , she tried to channel her mana the same as yesterday , but with far less.  
She successfully managed to conjure a tiny green flame floating at the tip off her staff , within the broken glass ball.  
She tried willing it to move , but that didn't seem to work.A knock on her door caused her concentration to vanish.  
The tinu fire dying with no energy.

"come in !" Ruby looked at the door , wondering who would enter.  
To her surprise it was Yuffie , she looked kinda sad. But the fear from yesterday was gone.  
She did however have breakfast with her , witch made Ruby happy.  
More delicious food.'I wonder if I can get fat.

"I uh .. wanted to apologize for yesterday , I kinda overreacted" , Yuffie handed over the food as she said this.  
"it's just that those flames...they..Maleficent was the one who threw our world to darkness..those flames brought up some bad memories."  
Ruby nodded along , it made sense when she thought about it.

"nah don't worry about it , I kinda thought it was weird how you all reacted , but I figured it had something to do with Maleficent.  
it kinda dawned on me when I saw your reactions , say...have you heard from Yen Sid yet?" Ruby figured it was easier hearing from Yuffie than it would be confronting him this way she can get a warning if she had to run for her life , tho that train she came here in vanished after a while ,so she has no idea how she would leave.

"well...about that...it's also kinda why im here...to say goodbye"Yuffie avoided eye contact.  
"I knew it! he's gonna kill me isn't he!" Ruby flailed before grabbing getting off her bed , ready to bolt at a moments notice "no no no! He wouldn't!" She yelled , but Ruby could have sworn she hear Yuffie mutter "not after I talked him out of it"  
"Instead he decided to halt your training completely , says it's having the opposite effect to what he planned so he can't help anymore"  
Yuffie walked upto Ruby , before hugging her.

"But ...what if Maleficent attacks again?" , Ruby was sure she would , or atleast find a way to get her out of this tower.  
"Yen Sid is strong , hell protect you , but i've still got a world to restore , and I've been kicked out here for a lack of a better word , so I have to go.  
Im sure youll be fine."With one last pat on the back Yuffie ended the hug and moved towards the door."Well see ya!Come visit when all this is over with".

"Yeah ...will do .Bi" Ruby gave a half hearted wave as Yuffie left , sure she wasn't here for very long , and she was very annoying when she wanted to be,  
But she still enjoyed her company. Now she's gonna be stuck in a lonely tower with nothing to only other people she could talk to would be the fairies.  
They were...nice.. but their constant arguing gets old really there's Yen Sid , making eye contact with him now would probably make her explode.

'You know what ...screw it.. i'm just gonna continue training by myself' , seemed like a good idea.  
She'll be ready for her journey , because yes , she's leaving as soon as gets a grasp on these flames and her basic fighting skills.  
Shell just have to be super she now realises ...she's a Sid wanted to keep her out of the wrong hands.  
Even if it meant destroying her , she saw how he 's kind to those he trusts , but underneath , he has some potent hatred for darkness , specifically she gets the feeling , he's going to be projecting onto her.  
The rest all wanted to use her ,to be the heartless weapon she was meant to won't let either scenario happen.  
Her first step in this independant journey would be to write down all the key points of the storyline.  
The try and find likely candidates to help her turn back into a human.

The days past slowly after that, spent trying to train but mostly just flailing angirly or burning Yen Sid's ,she was aware that training in open view would be obvious , but after her initial hunt for somewhere secret to realised there really was nowhere here where Yen Sid won't see her.  
She is a dangerous creature afterall... Yen Sid took notice he said nothing , in fact he was going out of his way to avoid her and she had a feeling it was more for her benefit than his.

So here she was , playing with what she can vaguely recall Maleficent claiming to be Hellfire , ofcourse she really hoped that was only bluff ,otherwise Yen Sid might be onto was currently laying on the grass making a small ball of flame buzz around her like a figured out quickly enough that the smaller the flame , the easier it is to sad that this small ball was all she could make without burning something , on the bright side She also learned her own fire can't burn her.

On that note she lifted her hand and touched the small flame , moving it into her was time for another test.  
She's been trying to shape the flames into shapes , more specifically off it would be awesome ,like controlling a game character.  
Secondly , it really helps with her control , and finally she hopes to do this with a lot of big a flaming army of puppets if she can.  
She figured if her fighting skills suck , have something else fight for 's unlikely that shell learn any other spells from Yen Sid so she had to figure something playing with her mana helped her controll alot.

"Ruby deary!" , looking up at the approaching fairy , Ruby dismissed her Knew of their history with Maleficent , 'let's not make them hate me too.'  
Getting up and turning to Fuana she gave a small wave."What's up" , fuana looked momentarily startled by the again that is not how one should greet their herself Fuana said,"Yen Sid had an idea deary , he wants us good fairies to use our magic on thinks that might make your light stronger."

To Ruby this sounded like he was grasping at straws , but so was nodded and followed the fairy towards their room.  
On the way there she thought about her would she have the same power as Maleficent, if she had to guess its because they both were creatures of darkness ,with only the barest glimmer of light in their again...those little red heartless had normal flames , and they were beings of pure maybe the fact that they have light at all was what made the flames 's more that she is not pure , her flame is tainted by light oddly enough.  
Course she could also be overthinking things.

She was broken from her silent walk with Fuana when they reached the door , She sighted and opened it , walking to the middle of the room.  
Just what she needed , Flora had a distrustful expression on her face and Merryweather was all but glaring at her.  
She really hadn't had much contact with them before the flame incident , but she liked to hope they'd remember that she actively saved them from Maleficent...or at least distracted her.

"Ready deary?"Fuana finally breaks the awkward silence , When she nodded Fuana rounded on the other two ,"now ,now ladies , stop with the glares.  
We have to help the poor dear , c'mon hop too" ,She made a small clapping motion before taking her place , Flora gave a sigh before offering Ruby a weary smile and fluttering to her place."But I don't wanna" ,Was the blue fairies a huff she crossed her arms and looked away.  
"Merryweather!" the other two shouted , she grumbled and took her place.

"on three ladies" , twirling their wands as they counted , a ball of light formed on each want, "one!" ,"two" ,"three!" .Simultaneously the shot the light at braced herself , but it didn't magic was for the light to join the light already present inside her, not to destroy the darkness.  
When the spell faded , Ruby felt it...she felt a longing to hug her was faint but there , with that thought she also felt a smidgen of true sadness at the loss of her world."iii...it...worked...It actually worked!...at least a little bit." , Ruby did a jump , barely feeling the sensation of true happiness.

'IIIIIII...dddOoooonnnnnTtt...LliiiiiiiKkeee...Ttthhhiiizz'

Ruby was momentarily startled by what she thought she heard ,but a surprise hug from Fuana snapped her out of it.  
"Oh happy day!" , even the other two had small smiles on their faces. "It's been a long day why don't we get all get some rest" ,this was Flora's suggestion.  
The simultaneous yawn from all three fairies cemented the idea.

Ruby bid them goodnight and made her way over to her room , falling into bed and cuddling up among the blankets.  
"Soon I'll be back to normal , tomorrow the fairies will just have to cast that magic again and again till im fixed.  
With that she willed herself to sleep , eager for the next day for the first time in a long time.

"HHUu...nanG rrYy"


End file.
